Royce Melborn
A skilled thief, part of the Riyria and one of the main characters. Background Royce Melborn was an orphan who lived on the streets of Ratibor as a child. He is a mir ''(half elf). Growing up homeless, he became a skilled thief very quickly. When he grew older, he joined the thieves' guild known as the Black Diamond. He became a "Bucket Man" (an assassin) for the Black Diamond. He befriended the other two Bucket Men, Merrick and his lover Jade. He rose in the ranks of the Black Diamond fast and the First Officer of the Black Diamond was scared that Royce would ursurp him. He put Royce and Jade both on an assignment, which they did not know the other was on, where they would fight each other. Royce emerged victorious but his victory was short-lived. As he pulled the mask off his opponent's face, he discovered he had just killed his friend Jade. Merrick vowed for vengence and got Royce put into Manzant Prison. Royce was in Manzant for two and a half years, during which he got his dagger Alverstone. An old wizard named Arcadius bought him out of the prison and introduced him to Hadrian Blackwater, a warrior who had recently returned from Calis. At first, Royce hated Hadrian, but after 12 years working an unknown amount of assignments, they eventually became friends. After their first assignment they were both almost killed. They were found by Gwen DeLancy, who eventually became Royce's fiancée. '''Personality' "He’s like a pup of a renowned hunting dog who’s been beaten badly by every master he’s had,” the old wizard had told him. “He’s a gem worthy of a little work, but he’ll test you–he’ll test you a lot. Royce doesn’t make friends easily and he doesn’t make it easy to be his friend. Don’t get angry. That’s what he’s looking for. That’s what he expects. He’ll try to drive you away, but you’ll fool him. Listen to him. Trust him. That’s what he won’t expect. It won’t be easy. You’ll have to be very patient. But if you do, you’ll make a friend for life, the kind that will walk unarmed into the jaws of a dragon if you ask him to. " Due to his tenuous childhood, Royce is a very cynical, pessimistic and distrustful individual, believing everyone to be evil unless proved otherwise. He can also be extremely cold and callous, having a very dubius moral compass. Nevertheless, Royce has shown that he is still capable of kindness and compassion, particularly towards those he indentifies with. For instance, he helped Ryn, the half-elf he met at an inn, and a young orphan boy who he saw in the streets of Ratibor. Despite the cruel life he led, years under the influence of Hadrian and Gwen have softened Royce, and while he is still a long way from being a nice person he has changed and seems to care deeply for those closest to him. And, even though he clearly states honor and honesty are foolish fairy-tales and berates Hadrian for believing in such fantasies, he occasionally shows some small slivers of honor to those he cares about. For example, he kept the promise he made to his friend and didn't kill Arcadius, also he never tried to exact any sort of revenge on Merrick because, after Jade's death, Royce believed he owed Merrick for what he had done. Moreover, he claims lying to Hadrian weights on his concience and spares Wyatt's life hecause the man saved a mir girl from slavery and thus, Royce, being a mir himself, owed Wyatt a life. However, Royce is still a self-serving thief and would have no qualms about letting the world burn as long as he and his loved ones were safe. Politically, he calls himsef an individualist and holds a twisted view on what is right and wrong. To him, right is only what is good for him and those important to him and wrong everything else. Even the few acts of kindness he performs are always direct to those closest to him or people he can relate to. In the end of the series though, he apears to show remorse for the things he has done and even becomes more forgiving and less prone to kill. Although not as intelligent as Merrick, Royce is also very intelligent, and whereas Hadrian could be considered the ´brawn' of Riyria, he is the 'brain'. Category:Characters